“Co-opted” for national cultural prestige, economic growth, place promotion and structural economic change? : Notes on the increasing production of European films

A particular focus in this paper is the delicate issue of possible over-production of European films, a situation which has either been spelled out or implied in a number of reports, chapters, books and doctoral dissertations on European cinema during the last decade. In a 2014 eight page briefing (referenced below), for instance, it was suggested that between 2001 and 2008 total investment in EU film production more than doubled. Hesitantly, however, it was also added that the increasing financial supply “appears to be used in making more films instead of following a more selective approach”s. Accordingly, the consequences of cinema and television having been, in a sense, “co-opted” for political objectives such as national cultural... (More)

A particular focus in this paper is the delicate issue of possible over-production of European films, a situation which has either been spelled out or implied in a number of reports, chapters, books and doctoral dissertations on European cinema during the last decade. In a 2014 eight page briefing (referenced below), for instance, it was suggested that between 2001 and 2008 total investment in EU film production more than doubled. Hesitantly, however, it was also added that the increasing financial supply “appears to be used in making more films instead of following a more selective approach”s. Accordingly, the consequences of cinema and television having been, in a sense, “co-opted” for political objectives such as national cultural prestige, economic growth, place promotion and structural economic change will be considered. For this purpose, a critical micro level inquiry will be used in an attempt to, by way of a synecdochic logic, irradiate conditions on the larger scene, or the macro level. Specifically, the activities of the Swedish/Scandinavian co-producer/regional film fund/public company Film i Väst will come under critical scrutiny. Among a large range of activities, the fund has facilitated a transition process which has meant that Scandinavian cinema has become marked by the “hybrid states and hyphenated identities”, typical of current European cinema. Additionally, the fund has enabled significantly larger production volumes in Sweden, Scandinavia and Northern Europe during the last two decades.A pivotal query is therefore how the examination of the production activities of an individual regional film fund may illuminate a larger context marked by increasing production and co-production of European films, and the mechanisms supporting it, despite the circumstance that signs of increasing demand are difficult to detect.

@misc{7a042fa9-a3b9-4a89-8b7f-3df3556d95e7,
abstract = {A particular focus in this paper is the delicate issue of possible over-production of European films, a situation which has either been spelled out or implied in a number of reports, chapters, books and doctoral dissertations on European cinema during the last decade. In a 2014 eight page briefing (referenced below), for instance, it was suggested that between 2001 and 2008 total investment in EU film production more than doubled. Hesitantly, however, it was also added that the increasing financial supply “appears to be used in making more films instead of following a more selective approach”s. Accordingly, the consequences of cinema and television having been, in a sense, “co-opted” for political objectives such as national cultural prestige, economic growth, place promotion and structural economic change will be considered. For this purpose, a critical micro level inquiry will be used in an attempt to, by way of a synecdochic logic, irradiate conditions on the larger scene, or the macro level. <br/>Specifically, the activities of the Swedish/Scandinavian co-producer/regional film fund/public company Film i Väst will come under critical scrutiny. Among a large range of activities, the fund has facilitated a transition process which has meant that Scandinavian cinema has become marked by the “hybrid states and hyphenated identities”, typical of current European cinema. Additionally, the fund has enabled significantly larger production volumes in Sweden, Scandinavia and Northern Europe during the last two decades.<br/>A pivotal query is therefore how the examination of the production activities of an individual regional film fund may illuminate a larger context marked by increasing production and co-production of European films, and the mechanisms supporting it, despite the circumstance that signs of increasing demand are difficult to detect.<br/><br/>Elsaesser, Thomas. 2015. “European Cinema into the Twenty-First Century: Enlarging the Context?”. In M. Harrod, M. Liz and A. Timoshkina (eds.) The Europeanness of European Cinema: Identity, Meaning, Globalization, London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 17-32.<br/>Hedling, Olof. 2017. “Contemporary Scandinavian cinema between art and commerce”. In The Routledge Companion to World Cinema (Rob Stone, Paul Cooke, Stephanie Dennison and Alex Marlow-Mann (eds.), London: Routledge, pp 146-156.<br/>Hjort, Mette. 2009. “On the Plurality of Cinematic Transnationalism”. In World Cinemas, Transnational Perspectives (N. Ďurovičová and K. Newman (eds.)), New York and Oxon: Routledge, pp. 12-33. <br/> Kanzler, Martin and Talavera, Julio Milla (eds.) 2016. Focus 2016: World Film Market Trends. Marché du Film, Festival de Cannes.<br/>Katsarova, Ivana 2014. “An Overview of Europe’s Film Industry”, European Union: European Parliamentary Research Service.<br/>},
author = {Hedling, Olof},
keyword = {european film production,regional film funds,European cinema,European Community,Film i Väst},
language = {eng},
location = {Amsterdam, Utrecht, Netherlands},
month = {06},
pages = {1--9},
title = {“Co-opted” for national cultural prestige, economic growth, place promotion and structural economic change? : Notes on the increasing production of European films},
year = {2018},
}